Jason Paul Brown thought he would “never” reunite with Five.
The 48-year-old pop star – who is more commonly known as J Brown – shot to fame alongside Sean Conlon, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson, and Abz Love as part of the boyband in the late 1990s but shunned the spotlight following their split and then felt as if his “prayers had been answered” when the call came to get back together.
He told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “A few years back I went through a personal thing that was quite stressful and it just brought up a load of stuff.
“One of the things that was coming up was Five. It’s the overarching theme of our lives since 1997.
“I was overcome with sadness that I was never going to do this again.
“Around five weeks later Abz messaged and said: ‘I really need to speak with you.’ It was like I had put a prayer out to the world and he answered it.”
J – who refused to join the ‘Everybody Get Up’ hitmakers during their first comeback in 2013 – hadn’t even kept in touch with his bandmates, and Abz had no idea where he was.
Abz said: “I didn’t know where J was. Is he alive? Has he still got his phone? I just threw out a text and he responded.”
Ahead of their UK tour – which will kick off in October – J explained that there were times he was “in pain” during their heyday but his bandmates have been his “brothers” for almost 30 years and his love for them has “never ever” wavered.
He said: “Were there times I told my family I was p****d off or I was in pain? Yes. And I made comments myself.
“But these guys have been my brothers since 1997. The amount of love that I have for each one of them has never ever changed. It’s too strong a bond to be broken